Full fashioned knitting machine



May 15, 1934. K. HOWIE 1,958,823

FULL FASHIONED KNITTING MACHINE Filed Nov. 10, 1932 Jfennei'il Jiqlqie,

Patented May 15, 1934 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE FULL FASHIONED KNITTING MACHINE Application November 10, 1932, Serial No. 642,107

10 Claims.

The invention relates to full fashioned knitting machines and concerns a sinker of special construction which, when associated with special controlling means, will maintain control upon the yarn sunk between the needles in the formation of stitches and will prevent the partly formed stitches from being displaced, resulting in their severance in the stitch forming operation. The invention also concerns the means by which the sinkers are controlled.

The invention is shown in the accompanying drawing in which Figure 1 is a cross sectional view of part of a knitting head of a full fashioned machine showing a sinker advanced and sinking the yarn between the needles, the controlling means now being in engagement with the sinker to restrain the same against snapping back from its yarn sinking positionwhen released by the passing on of the slur cock.

Fig. 2 is a view similar to Fig. 1 with the dividers advanced and the catch bar ready to retire with the dividers and sinkers.

Fig. 3 is a diagram of a needle sinker and stitch, indicating in full lines the positionof the needle when sprung out of line under the pressure of the advanced sinker, exerted thereon through the stitch.

Fig. 4 is a diagram of the parts shown in Fig. 3 showing, however, that the sinker has been thrown back from its advanced position by the snapping back to upright position of the deflected needle, leaving the stitch loose and liable to be contacted by the advanced divider resulting in its being cut.

Fig. 5 is a view of the improved sinker.

' Fig. 6 is a detail view of a part of the connections for operating the detent carrying bar.

Fig. 7 is a front view of part of the detent carrying bar and a part of the connections for operating the same.

In the drawing, 1 indicates the new form of sinker, the special feature of which is the shoulder 2 provided, desirably on the reinforcing piece 3 with which the sinkers are furnished, as in common practice. This shoulder is intended to be engaged by detent means for preventing the sinker from snapping back from its advanced position when the slur cock has passed out of en- 50 gagement with the jack 7 which operates the sinker. This detent engaging shoulder may assume different forms, but in the construction which has been chosen to illustrate the invention, it is provided by a tooth-like projection on the upper-edge of a part of the reinforcing piece,

said tooth having a vertical edge facing rearwardly, and a downwardly and forwardly inclined upper edge at 4. This shoulder is located in advance of the upwardly extending stem 1a of the sinker or reinforcing piece. With this shoulder or tooth, a spring detent 5 cooperates, there being one such spring for each sinker. These spring detents are desirably formed of wire with a hook shaped free end 5a to engage the shoulder on the sinker. They are mounted in a bar 6 by having I their shank portion 5b clamped to the bar by the plate 6a. The bar 6 is located above the sinker head 15 and is pivoted at 17 at each end of the sinker head cover 16. It is controlled in its operation by connections 12, Figs. 6 and 7, extending up from arms 13 on the catch bar lifter shaft 14 so that the detents will be raised and lowered at the proper moments to perform their functions in engaging or disengaging the sinkers, in timed relation to the means for operating the sinkers, and in timed relation to the movement of the catch bar cb.

When the sinker advances to sink the yarn between the needles, the detents are in their lowered positions, so that the inclined upper edges of the go projections or teeth on the sinker ride under the detents which snap into place with their ends engaging the shoulders. The sinkers are thus retained in their advanced positions despite the fact that as soon as the slur cock passes the jacks 95 'I the deflected needle, see full lines in Fig. 3, tending to return to normal upright position, see dotted lines, exerts its spring force through the stitch upon the sinker, which, under high speed of operation, were no detent present, would make the sinker fly backwardly and away from the needle and stitch leaving the stitch loose, or wild", as indicated by the diagram Fig. 4. The detent of the present invention, however, prevents this undesirable action from taking place by retaining the sinker in its advanced position, when it is no longer under the action of the slur cock and jack. The detent continues to exert its control and hold the sinker in its advanced position until the catch bar cb, having advanced 10 the dividers to the position shown in Fig. 2 from that shown in Fig. l, is ready to retract with the sinkers and dividers. Just before this retraction of the catch bar cb takes place, the detent holding bar is turned by the connections 12 and the detents are thereby lifted from the sinkers so that the latter then are free to return to their rearward positions with the catch bar.

Without the special form of sinker and the detent organization above described, the operation when carried out under high speed will result in cutting the yarn for the reason that during the action of sinking the yarn, and especially when a heavy yarn is employed, the needles are sprung out of line, as shown in dotted lines Fig. 3, and as soon as the slur cock passes the sinker operating jack, these deflected needles fly back to normal position throwing the sinkers (by reason of the yarn under tension between them) away from the needle and stitch allowing the latter to be loose or wild", as illustrated in Fig. 4 at :r. Now, when the catch bar moves the dividers forwardly, these loose or "wild" stitches will not divide or even up properly and the shorter ones often break when the needles go down to draw the stitches over the knock-over bits 10. In some instances, the loose or unsupported stitches may get so far out of place, due to the flying back of the sinkers, that the dividers in advancing will run under them resulting-in their being cut by the upper edges of the dividers when the needles descend. The dividers, in ordinary practice, are cut down at their upper edges, see dotted line at C, Fig. 2, in order to avoid the thread guide which, in usual practice, stops over them. This formation of the dividers increases the liability of the undesirable action above noted taking place. This cut down formation of the forward end of the divider accentuates the possibility of the divider running under the loose or wild stitch.

It may be noted that when the sinkers are driven forward by the slur cook, the shoulders 2 of the sinkers snap under the spring detents and said sinkers are then held tightly with their forwardly facing shoulders 31: against the folding bar 11 until the dividers are brought forward by the catch bar. and until just before the catch bar starts back with the sinkers and dividers, whereupon the spring detents are lifted, as before described. Except for the detention of the sinkers in their forward positions, as above described, the

operation of the elements is substantially the same as in ordinary practice. The inclined edge 4- extends upwardly and rearwardly from the for: wardly facing shoulder 32: to the rearwardly facing shoulder 2. I

The invention is not limited to the precise forms shown, in respect to the shoulder on the sinker, nor the arrangement or operation of the detents. it being understood that the drawing and description are presented as illustrative of the board aspects of the invention, as well as the specific form selected to disclose the principles involved, the scope of the said invention being defined in the appended claims.

As above stated. the invention may be embodied in forms other than as shown herein, and without departing from the scope of the invention. I regard the form illustrated as particularly desirable, and in respect to the employment of the abrupt shoulder, the hook shaped light spring detent and the described operation of these parts, it will be noticed that no undue load is imposed on the slur cock or catch bar. The detents can be formed of lighter spring material than would be the case were the invention embodied in forms other than the particular one chosen to illustrate the principle of the invention, and in the particular form the detents exercise no frictional holding restraint on the sink- .ers, but hold the latter by positive engagement with the abrupt shoulders.

It will be noticed that the structure of the sinker involves the forwardly facing shoulder 31: extending upwardly from the upper edge of the main body of the sinker at a point intermediate the length of said main body and that the shoulder 2 is in the rear of this forwardly facing shoulder and spaced apart therefrom and in rear of the rearwardly facing shoulder 2 is the catch bar stem spaced apart from the projection 4. The construction is such that the detent spring touches the sinker only during the last part of the forward stroke of the sinker. The detents as before stated are in their low position when the sinker advances, but they do not touch the sinker until. just before the forward movement of the sinker is completed at which time they are engaged by the narrow projection on the sinker. This will leave the sinker free from restraint by the detent during most of its stroke and therefore, less work have to be done bythe slur cock and considerable wear will be saved.

I claim:

1. A sinker for a full fashioned knitting machine having at its upper edge an upward projection which is provided with a forwardly and downwardly inclined upper end and a rearwardly facing detent engaging shoulder, at the rear end of said upward incline.

2. A sinker for a full fashioned knitting machine having a reinforcing member attached thereto which is provided with an upwardly extending catch bar engaging stem and with a rearwardly facing shoulder spaced apart from and 5 in front of said stem, and at an upper edge portion of said reinforcing piece, said shoulder being adapted to engage'with its rear face the end of a detent in the space-between it and the front of said stem.

3. A sinker according to claim 2 in which the rearwardly facing shoulder is on a projection extending upwardly from the reinforcing piece and in rear of an inclined edge leading to the top of said projection, substantially as described.

4. Apparatus of the class described having sinkers provided with upwardly extending catch bar engaging stems, and shoulders in front of and spaced apart from the stems, detents for engaging said shoulders, a support for said detents 120 located forwardly in respect to theshoulders and from which the said detents extend rearwardly to engage the shoulders, substantially as described.

5. Apparatus according to claim 4 in which i the said detents have hooked free ends for engaging the said shoulders.

6. A sinker for a full fashioned knitting machine having an upwardly extending stem for engagement with a catch bar and with an upward projection providing a rearwardly facing shoulder spaced apart from and lying in front of said stem. said shoulder being adapted to engage with its rear face the end of a detent in the space between it and the front of said stem.

7. A sinkerfor a full fashioned machine according to claim 6 in which a forwardly facing shoulder lies in front of the rearwardly facing shoulder, for engaging a folding bar, the sinker having an upwardly and rearwardly inclined edge extending from the forwardly facing shoulder to the rearwardly facing shoulder, substantially as described.

8. A sinker forv a full fashioned machine having at its upper edge an upward projection providing a rearwardly facing detent engaging shoulder. said projection being narrow lengthwise of the sinker and the portion of the upper edge of the sinker forward of the projection being lower than the top of the projection so that the sinker will be free of restraint from the detent except when the narrow projection contacts with the detent near the limit of forward travel of the sinker.

9. A sinker for a full fashioned knitting machine having at a point intermediate of its length a forwardly facing shoulder reaching upwardly from the upper edge of the main body of the sinker a rearwardly facing shoulder in rear of and spaced apart from the forwardly facing shoulder, and a catch bar stem extending up in rear of and spaced apart from said rearwardly facing shoulder, substantially as described.

10. In combination in a full fashioned knitting machine, a sinker having at a point intermediate its length an upward projection'providing a rearwardly facing detent engaging shoulder, said projection being narrow lengthwise of the sinker, and a detent having a lowered shoulder engaging position and a raised shoulder releasing position, the portion of the sinker forward of the projection being lower than the detent when in its shoulder engaging position so that the sinker will be free of restraint from the detent except when the narrow projection contacts therewith near the limit of forward travel of the sinker.

KENNETH HOWIE. 

